Ghosts
by Morningstar Glory
Summary: It is not the sunlight streaming through his blinds or the sound of people happily laughing in the streets outside his window that pulls Hayner from his dreams. It's the unexplainable feeling of loss that wakes him and drags him out of bed. It leaves him nauseated and dizzy and drenched in a cold sweat as he tries to figure out why it feels so much like grief.


**Disclaimer**: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. If I did, the series wouldn't be scattered across so many consoles. I'm making no profit from this story.

**Author's Notes**: So, I found this story while I was going through my hard-drive and I literally have no idea why I never posted it. As far as I remember, it's just a short little ficlet written for a prompt I don't even remember who gave me. First KH story I've posted here. Set the day after Roxas disappears.

* * *

It is not the sunlight streaming through his blinds or the sound of people happily laughing in the streets outside his window that pulls Hayner from his dreams. It's the unexplainable feeling of loss that wakes him and drags him out of bed. It leaves him nauseated and dizzy and drenched in a cold sweat as he tries to figure out why it feels so much like grief.

_Something important has been taken from him._

_Something he cared about has been lost._

He slowly manages to untangle his sheets from where they are wrapped tightly around his legs-

_(Everything in his room is right where it's meant to be. Nothing is missing.)_

He manages to get dressed despite his shaking hands-

_(He can hear his parents talking normally downstairs, safe and sound and unaware that something is wrong here.)_

He manages to find his way to the usual spot and Olette and Pence are already there waiting for him-

_(Nothing has changed, but one look at his friend's faces tells him they know. They feel it too.)_

"Hey guys. What's up with the long faces?" He asks, trying to keep his voice light and teasing but it doesn't quite work and his tone sounds strange even to his own ears.

Pence looks up from where he's staring at his shoes and shrugs.

"I guess we're just having a weird day." Olette says with a small apologetic smile.

"That's all?" Hayner asks in disbelief, but he gets it even if he doesn't know how to talk about it without sounding insane. "You guys feel like hitting the beach?"

_(There is nothing missing and there is no point on dwelling on it.)_

Pence and Olette stare at each other for a moment before standing up and nodding at each other.

_(If he's not going to bring it up, neither are they.)_

"Yeah!" Pence agrees. "It's the last day of summer vacation after all. We should have some fun before we go back to school, right?"

"Right!" Olette replies enthusiastically. "What took us so long to go to the beach this year anyway?"

The mood is much lighter after they've all agreed about their plans for the day and they laugh and joke with each other on the way to Station Heights, but there's still a feeling in the pit of Hayner's stomach that he just can't seem to shake telling him he's missing something.

_(He should be here with us.)_

The thought sinks into him like a blade and causes him to stop despite the fact Hayner has no idea who _he_ might be.

"Hayner?" Pence asks, breaking his train of thought. "You okay?"

"You looked like you were thinking about him." Olette says and then stops short as she realizes what she'd said.

"Thinking about who?" Hayner asks because he wants to know.

_(He wants to know who've they've all forgotten and how. Where has he gone and can they bring him back?) _

"I don't know." Olette admits. "Nobody is missing."

"Yeah." Pence agrees. "You probably just meant Hayner looked like he was thinking about something."

"You think so?" Olette asks, looking as doubtful as they all feel.

"What else could it be?" Hayner asks, shrugging his shoulders as casually as he can. "C'mon, it was probably nothing. If we keep standing around like this, we're gonna miss the train."

Pence and Olette both nod in agreement with him and they head towards the station before any of them have a chance to think about just who they're all missing so much could be.

…

_For weeks afterwards, Hayner dreams of memories he doesn't remember making. He dreams of eating sea salt ice cream and inside jokes and stolen words. Every time he wakes up with a jolt, straining to recall a name and face that doesn't even seem exist in his dreams. _

…

They all seem to breathe a collective sigh of relief after meeting Sora, though none of them knows exactly why.

_(It's like meeting an old friend.)_

…

_Hayner still dreams, but he no longer wakes up in a panic. _

_They may not remember who left them, but he knows he is missed and they at least know he is safe. _


End file.
